April is Occupational Therapy Month.  To commemorate the month, the OTA students typically have a celebration and complete some type of “give back” activity to the community.  This year was challenging due to COVID and distancing limitations, but the OTA students and faculty rose to the task.  To celebrate this year, the students created a thank you message to the area Occupational Therapy practitioners which they have shared on social media.  Occupational Therapy has been deemed an essential health care service and many practitioners are working on the front lines of the pandemic across the country. 

The students also created mask extenders which they donated to the emergency room department at Christus St. Michael Hospital in Texarkana.  Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus, all healthcare workers are now wearing masks and other protective gear to prevent the spread of the virus while they provide care to their patients. The mask extenders allow medical professionals to work more comfortably while taking safety precautions. 

UA Cossatot’s OTA Director, Tamla Heminger said, “We feel it is crucial for our students to learn, but also for them to have opportunities to give back and participate in community service and service-learning projects. In honor of Occupational Therapy Month, the students came up with some excellent ideas that they could do to help others while maintaining social distancing requirements. With the current pandemic situation, these were fun, creative ways to help make a small difference.”

The OTA students and instructors completed their OT Month celebration by having a virtual lunch together via Zoom on April 23, 2020.

To learn more about UA Cossatot’s OTA program, please contact UA Cossatot OTA Director, Tamla Heminger, at 870-584-1496 or theminger@cccua.edu.